 Gough apologised for the letter, accepting that it could be interpreted as suggesting Maxwell was falsely claiming the award.In April 1974, Gough said that in retrospect it was a mistake for the Conservative Party to have forced Sir Alec Douglas-Home out of the leadership in 1965.He lived to see the release of the film "A Bridge Too Far", which he described as "[playing] ducks and drakes with historical facts in order to dish up an extravaganza fit for the American massed cinema market".